Make Mondays Meatless
Summary: Simple changes to your meals can have a big impact
Description
One seemingly small change that can benefit our health, our wallets, our communities, AND the environment in exponential ways is swapping out meat for plant-based menu options. Make Mondays a meatless-meal day and expand from there!
Vegetables offer healthy sustenance for our bodies – no animal cholesterol or fat, loads of fiber, and natural vitamins and trace minerals – as well as fewer calories.
Not to mention vegetables are more economical for our wallets. Vegetables are cheaper per pound than meats. Stretching leftovers to tomorrow’s lunches stretches the savings, too!
In addition, buying fruit and vegetables, whether at a neighborhood supermarket or farmers’ market, can support our local farmers. Buying locally grown produce means less long-haul trucking, less diesel consumption, less exhaust fumes in our air, and less wear & tear on our roadways.
Deep Dive
Consider some statistics –
· Livestock globally produces 14.5% of the world's greenhouse gases yearly. This is expected to increase, absent changes in human consumption behavior.
· Fertilizing animal feed with chemical fertilizers produces nitrous oxide emissions, a greenhouse gas 300x more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2).
· As animals digest this feed and produce manure, the methane emissions that are generated are 80x more powerful than CO2.
· Producing just 1 kilogram of beef, approximately the equivalent of a quarter pound of beef – think a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder – produces 300 kilograms of CO2. How much is 300 kilograms of CO2? Roughly the volume of 1028 barrels of oil.
· Choose a different protein and reduce your climate footprint. EWG_TipSheet_Meat-Climate_C02.pdf
Steps to Take
Not sure where to start? We and the Environmental Working Group have some ideas and we welcome more ideas from our fellow Melrosians!
- Sauté some mushrooms and then add jar spaghetti sauce to add bulk and a meaty texture to a simple tomato sauce.
- Opt for spaghetti squash instead of pasta. This squash, with the consistency of angel-hair pasta after cooking in the oven, is ready for a ladle of pasta sauce, with fewer carbs and calories than pasta, but more healthy nutrients.
- Try a mushroom burger instead! Grilled or sauteed, a big, thick portabella mushroom, perhaps drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, can substitute for a ground beef burger with more healthful benefits.